


unfamiliar (but not bad)

by punkaspadfoot



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, tw just for alcohol/very poor descriptions of being drunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkaspadfoot/pseuds/punkaspadfoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've always had some sort of feelings for each other, it just takes a few drinks and a school play for them to figure it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The entirety of the Ark Academy of Performing Arts had gotten an email on Friday afternoon. A chain of emails, actually.

From: oblake@arkacademy.org  
To: allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: [NoSubject]

My house @ 8.

-  
From: mkane@arkacademy.org  
To: oblake@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: [NoSubject]

I'd like to remind all of our students that this is an inappropriate use of the school's technology and it will not be tolerated.

Marcus Kane, Dean of Students

-  
From: jmurphy@arkacademy.org  
To: mkane@arkacademy.org, oblake@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: [NoSubject]

I'll be there

-  
From: rreyes@arkacademy.org  
To: jmurphy@arkacademy.org, mkane@arkacademy.org, oblake@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: [NoSubject]

ew

-  
Lexa doesn't go to parties. She has better things to focus on. Her grades, the fall play, the winter showcase, her career as an actress in general. Parties have booze and boys who want to touch her up and smell like sweat and sex. She doesn't even think about going to this one, because it isn't what she does. That's why, when she throws her script onto the passenger seat and starts her car, all she wants to do is drive home. But she owes Lincoln a favor and he's dating Octavia Blake and somehow she finds herself making her way, still in her school uniform, to the Blakes' house.

It was all Clarke Griffin's fault, in a way. She wouldn't have even owed Lincoln a favor if it weren't for Griffin. Wells Jaha had been sick earlier in the week and Lexa hadn't had a lab partner and she would've been forced to have been paired with Clarke if Lincoln hadn't jumped into the empty seat next to her. She'd been grateful. It's common knowledge that Clarke and Lexa hate each other. They are by far the two best actresses in the school. Auditions for the lead role of any performance turn into a competition between the two. Sometimes it takes all Lexa has to remind herself that even if she lost some battles along the way she would still win the war. Because that's the goal, really, to make it on stage somewhere. Ideally Broadway, but Lexa's realistic. She'll take just about any paying role she can get, as long as she connects with it and stops having to rely on her parents' money. She has a year before she has to start worrying about that, though, so she tries to push it to the back of her mind as she gets out of her car and approaches the house.

The entryway opens up into a living room filled with people. All of the furniture is pushed to the walls and music is blaring so loudly that Lexa's surprised the neighbors aren't complaining. A kitchen is attached, and Lexa makes her way to it, hoping it'll be less crowded. Lincoln had wanted her there, but she sees him dancing with Octavia and she doubts that he would notice if she left. She sees Clarke dancing too, though, and she decides to stay, at least for a few minutes. Even though she hates Clarke. Even though she's obviously hated Clarke since they were little, and even if she had started to notice how pretty her eyes are sometime last year it didn't mean anything. At all.

Lexa grabs a plastic cup off the counter, filled with something that smells vile. Auditions for the winter showcase are just weeks away, and between that and whatever the hell it means that seeing Clarke dancing makes her heart speed up, Lexa figures a drink might be what she needs. She's never been drunk before. Her friends would say she's too responsible. Everyone else would say that she's got a stick up her ass. Lexa doesn't mind. That's what she's known for and that's what she has to be if she wants to succeed.

Octavia was the first one to notice. She was the one who had nicknamed Lexa. It had been in the eighth grade, and she still hated it. Commander. Rigid and harsh and always said with a laugh, as if it were the worst thing in the world to be called.

Up until last year it had been, and Lexa had thrown the same amount of venom back at them. But she finds it harder to now, and she takes a big sip of her drink even though it burns and the taste makes her eyes water, because she's thought through this before. It's a distraction, and one that she can't afford.

She turns around and sees Clarke dancing again, arms above her head and hair flying, before she grabs another cup and heads out to the backyard. There are still groups of people here and there, but it's less loud and Lexa finds a tree to sit up against. Somebody builds a fire, she thinks it's the boy with the shaggy hair who destroyed a set the year before because he'd seen Clarke kissing another girl during intermission. (Really, more people had reactions like that than was reasonable.)

Lexa sips her way through the first drink and gulps down most of the second, running lines in her head. She has the lead in the fall play, and even though everything's memorized she still hasn't gotten some scenes exactly right yet. She wants to have everything perfect by the end of the weekend. If Lexa's role is second nature by the time the set goes up it'll make Indra, the director, happy. That's the only reason Lexa's working this hard. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Clarke plays her sister and Lexa knows that once they get their costumes she's done for, because seeing Clarke in a skirt looking like it came from the 1920s is something that could very well kill her. She takes another huge gulp, dribbling down her front, because  _no_ , this is a distraction and she does  _not_ like Clarke—She does not like  _Griffin_  in any sense of the word, especially not that way.

It's fully dark by the time Lexa sees a figure making its way toward her, and more people are starting to fill up the yard. She figures it's someone looking for a dark corner to claim and she's ready to make it known that she was there first but the figure hands her another drink instead before sitting down across from her.

It's Clarke, and Lexa's suprised, but the fire's making shadows across Clarke's face in a way that makes her look dangerous and beautiful and Lexa's never had more than one drink at a time, and even then there'd barely been any alcohol in it and she can't really think straight. She doesn't need to, because Clarke doesn't seem to want to talk. She just stares out at the fire and Lexa's fine with that. Lexa stares at her.

She's drunk and she thinks that her skirt has ridden up enough that Clarke can probably see her underwear and she hasn't done laundry in weeks and they're the pink and purple striped pair she's had since she was ten and she feels blurry and frayed and she  _doesn't care_. The only thing she can focus on long enough to care about is that Clarke is completely sober and she is so, so drunk and it's  _infuriating_. Clarke squints her eyes at her and Lexa realizes that she's probably been staring at her for too long.

"You alright there, Commander?" Lexa scowls.

"I hate that name," she grumbles. Clarke rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, it must be such a hardship." She takes another sip from the red cup in her hands. "Poor Lexa, right? A few girls from school don't like her. It can be your sob story when you make it to Broadway or the red carpet or wherever the hell your parents will buy your way into."

Maybe Clarke isn't as sober as Lexa had originally thought, but either way Lexa feels a thrumming throughout her body. Anger, she realizes after a second.

"Fuck you, Griffin. You don't know anything." The words are bitter and sharp and Lexa would get up and leave if she felt like she could walk from where they were sitting into the house without falling over.

"Try me," Clarke says, and her smirk turns mocking. "What was it like for poor Lexa? Did Mommy and Daddy not buy you every toy you wanted when you were little? Did they miss one of your precious showcases? Honestly, you're pathetic." Lexa can feel her hand tightening and, shit, her cup is starting to bend. She wants to force herself to relax, to regain control, but she honestly doesn't see the point at the moment. All she can see is Clarke, sitting across from her like she's got the whole world figured out.

"You really are as fucking stupid as they say you are, aren't you?" Lexa asks, and she can tell that it gets to Clarke.

"What's that supposed to mean? Just because I didn't get to buy all-" Lexa cuts her off with a roll of her eyes and a snort.

"Cut it with the fucking parents crap, Clarke. You're being an idiot." She's being blunt and emotional and everything she's trained herself not to be and it doesn't feel good or bad but it feels  _messy_  and she's scared but she takes a gulp from her cup to chase the feeling away.

Clarke feigns looking thoughtful, tapping her chin with the hand that isn't holding her cup.

"You know, I don't think I will," and she looks angry now and she leans forward and Lexa leans back because the look in Clarke's eyes is fierce and angry and Lexa is very very drunk and very very weak.

"Because," she continues, "no matter how many times it's shoved right into your fucking face, you don't seem to realize how goddamn lucky you are." Lexa snorts but Clarke ignores her and doesn't stop speaking. "You have a mother and a father who are fucking rich and  _love_  you and you're like the fucking picture perfect Kodak family and-" Lexa cuts her off again, and this time her voice is dangerous.

"Stop it, Griffin." Then she repeats, more quietly this time, "You don't know anything."

Clarke leans back again and plays with her cup.

"Tell me then. Tell me what's so bad about the famous Heda family."

There isn't a second's silence before Lexa jumps in. "Do you know how I got my first nanny fired?" Clarke has a twisted smile at the word nanny, but she shakes her head.

"I called her 'mommy'. And someone must've told my parents and I was six and one day she was there and the next day she was gone."

"So?" Clarke shrugs, "I see them around here every single show, no matter how small of a role you get. It's not like they really did any harm." Lexa doesn't say anything for a minute, just stares until Clarke starts to feel self conscious.

"What?" she asks defensively, "It's true. Your dad with the long beard and your mom with the tattoos. They always get front row tickets, it's not like they're hard to find." Lexa still doesn't speak for a moment, but when she does there's such emotion in her voice, such _hatred_ , that Clarke finds herself starting to feel bad even though she didn't do anything wrong.

"That's my nanny and my tutor," and she's so drunk she doesn't even care that she just admitted to having a nanny at the age of seventeen, "I haven't seen my parents in two fucking years."

And Clarke doesn't want to feel bad, she really doesn't, but Lexa's sitting there cradling her body around her cup and it's still half-full but Lexa seems absolutely hammered, and she looks more than a little like a kicked puppy and  _fuck_. She feels bad for her.

"Must be pretty cool to have a badass tattooed nanny," she offers, trying to lighten the mood at least a little bit. Lexa rewards her with a small smile.

"Anya's my tutor. Gustus is my nanny."

"Oh."

"She did help me get this, though," and Lexa's smiling wickedly and she starts to roll up her sleeve before huffing out a sigh of frustration and pulling down her collar to awkwardly pull her arm out. Clarke watches her and she feels something when she sees the other girl's collarbone that she attributes to the few drinks she's had.

Clarke leans forward when Lexa's arm is fully extracted and sees a pattern on her upper arm. Almost like a band around it, but more intricate.

"You have a tattoo?" she asks, surprised, and it's a stupid question because it's right in front of her but  _really_? Perfect actress Lexa with a secret tattoo, it's the last thing that anyone would expect.

Lexa shrugs and begins to try to get her arm back into its sleeve.

"I know how to cover it up with makeup so I can still get jobs."

Clarke laughs a little, softly, saying "Of course you do."

Just a few minutes ago they hated each other and this is different and weird and it's getting harder for Clarke to keep blaming the weird feeling in her stomach on alcohol and she'd try to think about it more but she hears Octavia calling for her from the house. Lexa gives her a small smile as she gets up to leave, and as she walks past the bonfire it's all that she can think about.


	2. Chapter 2

From: tjaha@arkacademy.org  
To: allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Tonight's Show

I sat in on the dress rehearsal, and I'm very happy to say that this year's fall play, written by our very own Wells Jaha, is one of our best shows yet. Tonight is opening night and I hope to see many of you there.

Your Headmaster,  
Thelonius Jaha

-  
From: jmurphy@arkacademy.org  
To: tjaha@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Tonight's Show

its crazy that the person who wrote the play is your son

-  
From: rreyes@arkacademy.org  
To: jmurphy@arkacademy.org, tjaha@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Tonight's Show

it is a big coincidence. especially since we havent done a student written play in over ten years.

-  
From: nmiller@arkacademy.org  
To: rreyes@arkacademy.org, jmurphy@arkacademy.org, tjaha@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Tonight's Show

will there at least be an afterparty at the blakes

-  
From: oblake@arkacademy.org  
To: nmiller@arkacademy.org, mkane@arkacademy.org, rreyes@arkacademy.org, jmurphy@arkacademy.org, tjaha@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tonight's Show

I do more than just throw amazing parties

-  
From: oblake@arkacademy.org  
To: oblake@arkacademy.org, nmiller@arkacademy.org, rreyes@arkacademy.org, jmurphy@arkacademy.org, tjaha@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tonight's Show

but yes

-  
From: mgreen@arkacademy.org  
To: oblake@arkacademy.org, nmiller@arkacademy.org, rreyes@arkacademy.org, jmurphy@arkacademy.org, tjaha@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tonight's Show

we'll bring refreshments

-  
It's opening night and the show is sold out. It'll only be running for the week, and tickets went fast. The script isn't the best they've ever had, but it's pretty damn good. Wells had written it, and it had taken a hell of a lot to convince Indra that it was worth putting on. Technically it had been more up to his dad, the headmaster, than it had been to her, but anyone who went against Indra had a death wish.

Clarke is in her costume, backstage with everyone else. The show starts in fifteen minutes and everyone around her is nervous and excited and a little frantic. Stagehands are running around, making sure that everyone's in costume and nobody's fucking anything up too badly. Clarke herself is a bit nervous as well, but she doesn't know if that's to do with the knowledge that her mother's sitting in the audience or because she knows that she'll be on the same stage as Lexa Heda for the next hour and a half.

Things have been weird between the two of them since the party a few weeks before, but it shouldn't be bothering Clarke. It _doesn't_  bother Clarke. Obviously. And Lexa probably doesn't even remember it, she was one of the drunkest there. Which was kind of adorable. _No_ , it wasn't. And Clarke's never been good at lying to herself but she can't deal with this right now. Whatever's going on between them is already affecting their acting as it is, and since they're the two biggest characters it's affecting a good half of the play. Dealing with whatever the hell is happening would only fuck their acting up more, Clarke decides.

Clarke realizes that she doesn't even know where Lexa is, and Lexa's playing the lead (even though Clarke _so_  should have gotten that part) and there's only eleven minutes until curtain and now maybe Clarke's a little nervous about more than just the weirdness between them.

She doesn't normally feel this nervous, even before the first show, though. She checks her phone again before turning it off, and there's still ten minutes before she has to be on stage. Someone, a stagehand, comes up to clip her microphone on the back of her skirt, but she brushes them off and goes to find the waterbottle that she'd brought backstage with her but had lost as she got into her costume.

What she doesn't expect as she finds her way into the corner, looking for her water, is for Lexa's head to poke out from on top of a platform above her.

"Clarke," she says evenly, as a greeting.

"Everyone's looking for you," Clarke replies, not really knowing what to say. She hadn't expected actually having to say things to Lexa that aren't lines until intermission, at least. Lexa shrugs.

"We still have time."

"Do you even have your mic on?"

Lexa shrugs again.

"I'm not on until the second scene. They'll find me before then."

Clarke is about to argue further, but someone grabs her arm and pulls her from the corner. Lexa doesn't seem fazed by it, and simply nods at her before she leans back and is hidden again. Clarke is pulled behind a curtain, where she can hear the chatter of the crowd, and she's about to reach out and punch whoever's got her before she sees that it's Wells.

"Hey. I wanted to talk to you before the show started."

Clarke smiles at him, a little wary of why he's pulled her aside so close to the start of the show.

"You waited long enough."

"Yeah, I know, this'll only take a second."

"What's up?" Wells looks concerned, moreso than he should be even if this is the debut of his first real screenplay, and Clarke takes that into account as she leans back onto a creaky wooden beam.

"What's going on?"

Clarke laughs a little, surprised by Wells's intensity. He doesn't laugh with her.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"With you and Lexa. You two have been perfect for the last few months, and then at the dress rehearsal you were terrible. It was like it was the first rehearsal all over again."

"Wow, tell us how you really feel, Wells."

"Clarke. What's going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clarke is starting to get defensive, "You knew when we were casted that Lexa and I don't like each other. Nothing's changed since then."

"Well obviously something has, or you would be as good as you two were a month ago."

"I have to be on stage in five minutes." Clarke goes to leave and get into place, but Wells stops her with a hand on her arm and a sigh.

"Clarke. What happened?"

"Things just got weird at a party, it's no big deal. We'll do the play just like we would've before."

"Clarke. When you're onstage you won't even look at each other for more than a few seconds. Whatever happened must've been a big enough deal if it's changing the way you play your roles, which were perfect before, by the way."

"We'll figure it out. It's fine." Clarke goes to leave again, but Wells continues to speak.

"I wrote the parts for you, you know."

"What are you talking about?" Clarke doesn't walk back towards him, but she turns to face him.

"I wrote them for you and Lexa. I knew you'd get the parts and I thought maybe it'd be good for you. Make you actually talk to each other or something."

Clarke huffs out a laugh. "Yeah, because talking to each other worked out so well." Wells laughs too.

"Just go get on stage and don't mess my play up too much, alright? We'll go out for ice cream or something afterwards."

"And then I'll drag you to Octavia's party." Clarke smiles at him wickedly. Wells just rolls his eyes and pushes her towards another stagehand, frantically shoving her microphone into place. She runs into the wings and gets ready for her cue.

Throughout the first half of the play, Clarke starts to see waht Wells was talking about. She's supposed to be playing Lexa's sister, but they barely ever even acknowledge each other.

Lexa evidently notices, too, because the second they're offstage she grabs Clarke by the elbow and pulls her into the corner that they had been speaking in before the play had started.

"Come," she says, orders, and she pushes a rack of costumes aside to reveal a rickety metal ladder. Clarke follows her up to the platform that Lexa had been on before. Lexa sits in the corner, and it's obvious that she's been here for awhile. There's a bottle of water and a couple bags of food in the corner, as well as some crumpled up wrappers in a pile. Clarke's barely able to look further before Lexa's face is in front of hers.

"What's going on?" Lexa asks, and Clarke is flustered (and she is _absolutely not_ looking at how green Lexa's eyes are, or how close her lips are to her own) but she manages to hold her own.

"I could ask you the same thing. You're the one who dragged me up here when we only have fifteen minutes before we have to go on again." Lexa takes a half step back, and Clarke finds herself missing the proximity, but she ignores the feeling.

"We're terrible."

Clarke smirks a little, still kind of unnerved. "Wells said the same thing."

"No, you don't understand. We're _terrible_ ," she repeats, and Clarke starts to interrupt her to say something to try to lighten the conversation but Lexa plows on, "We're terrible and my parents are in the crowd."

Everything she would've said back to her just a few weeks ago doesn't even come to mind, because Clarke _gets it_. She gets wanting to impress parents, even while knowing that you shouldn't give a fuck and it shouldn't matter anyways and it won't even change a thing. She knows and she knows how much it sucks and maybe it shows on her face because Lexa looks like she's about to say something and Clarke tries to speak before she can but suddenly she can't because there's lips on her mouth. Lexa's _kissing her_. And it's not bad, not at all, but Clarke is shocked and she freezes and Lexa backs away while mumbling apologies and she descends the ladder before Clarke can comprehend the situation enough to say a word.

Once she collects herself, she rushes down the ladder after Lexa. Octavia's talking to Raven by the wall because something had gone wrong with her spotlight, and Clarke avoids them, not wanting to have to answer any questions about who she's looking for.

"Where's Heda?" she hears the stage manager angrily asking an understudy, apparently frustrated by Lexa's disappearances.

"I think I saw her in the dressing rooms, maybe her skirt ripped again," is the reply.

Clarke doesn't fully make out the stage manager's response, something about how nobody can ever find her. She rushes down the stairs, nearly tripping on her skirt.

Lexa is in the girls' dressing room, drinking from a bottle of water. She doesn't look up when Clarke enters the room, wrinkling her nose at the smell of hairspray and perfume. Lexa looks like she's about to speak when she notices her, but Clarke doesn't let her. She crosses the room in four strides and grabs her face and kisses Lexa before she can say anything. Lexa stops for a minute, sitting still, before she starts kissing back. They stay there like that, even though Clarke is leaning over Lexa in the most uncomfortable way. Lexa's hands running through her hair make up for it. And then Lexa bites her bottom lip and Clarke pulls on her hair softly and Clarke _never wants this to end_. But a voice from the hallways calls that they have to be on in three minutes and Clarke has to force herself to pull away because Lexa doesn't seem like she's going to anytime soon.

"Let's go out there and actually act this time," Clarke says with a smile as she stands up, still high on the last few minutes.

"Wells will be happy," Lexa replies dryly, and Clarke laughs.

They make their way up from the dressing rooms, hands bumping together every few steps, and stand in their positions, ready to make their way on stage when the lights go on. Clarke sees Lexa worrying her lip between her teeth and bumps her with her shoulder.

"We'll be great. They'll love us."

Lexa looks to her with a small smile.

"I'm not sure about the second part. But thanks."

Clarke wants to say more but the curtain rises and she walks out into her place, throwing a quick smile back to Lexa before the crowd can see her.

It's better than any of the rehearsals ever had been, and Wells tells her so on their way to Octavia's party. Clarke just smiles at him.


	3. epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> suprise!!! there's more!
> 
> this is literally only a thousand words long im sorry it just needed a bit more to wrap everything up and i felt like this little bit ended it at a good spot

From: mkane@arkacademy.org  
To: allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Winter Break

Overall we've had an amazing start to the year, from our very successful fall play to the amazing winter concerts. I'd like to wish you all a very happy, very fun, very _safe_  winter break. I hope you're all able to come back to school refreshed and ready to do well on your finals and look forward to next semester!

Have a good break,  
Marcus Kane, Dean of Students

-  
From: jjordan@arkacademy.org  
To: mkane@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Winter Break

any plans for friday, octavia?

-  
From: oblake@arkacademy.org  
To: jjordan@arkacademy.org, mkane@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Winter Break

nope

-  
From: rreyes@arkacademy.org  
To: oblake@arkacademy.org, jjordan@arkacadamy.org, mkane@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Winter Break

ive been into pyrotechnics recently. i could demonstrate at a party.

-  
From: oblake@arkacademy.org  
To: rreyes@arkacademy.org, oblake@arkacademy.org, jjordan@arkacademy.org, mkane@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Winter Break

fine. 8.

-  
From: mkane@arkacademy.org  
To: oblake@arkacademy.org, rreyes@arkacademy.org, jjordan@arkacademy.org, mkane@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty  
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Winter Break

I'd like to remind everyone that we _a_ _re_  legally obligated to report any suspicions of illegal behavior to the police. While I encourage you all to have fun over break, I trust that you'll be responsible with how you choose to do so.

Marcus Kane, Dean of Students

-  
From: rreyes@arkacademy.org  
To: mkane@arkacademy.org, oblake@arkacademy.org, rreyes@arkacademy.org, jjordan@arkacademy.org, allstudents, allfaculty

theres nothing illegal about someone explaining some of the basic principles behind the science of pyrotechnics to her closest friends at a small get together

-  
Winter break is Lexa's favorite time of the year. She's able to stay at home for two weeks without any obligations at all. At least, that's how it usually goes. This year she still isn't completely sure where she stands with Clarke, but she's being dragged to another Blake party because of her.

She _likes_  Clarke, even if it's stupid, and she doesn't know what she had expected to happen when she had kissed her during the play. Yeah, it had made things better for that night, but they hadn't really spoken since.

To be fair, they haven't really had the chance to speak since then. Between studying for finals and getting ready for auditions for the spring play, Lexa hasn't had much free time. And she knows that Clarke, with her visual arts course in addition to everything else, has had it even worse.

They did exchange numbers at the clean up day after their last show, and they've texted a few times. Lexa had been just about ready to give up, to dismiss it as a one time thing, when Clarke had asked if she was going to the party. And Lexa still hates parties, no matter what happened a few months back (which she still finds a bit hard to remember, if she's being quite honest), but she still finds herself out in Octavia's backyard, watching Raven Reyes set up a few cans labeled with the word "BOOM".

Clarke finds her while Lexa is watching Raven chase away a few sophomore boys that had snuck in and apparently thought messing with gunpowder would be fun.

"What do you think the chances are that we'll all get blown up by the end of the night?" Clarke asks her in lieu of greeting, and Lexa starts, not realizing that she had come up behind her.

She turns to her with a small smile, though, saying, "If I end up in the hospital I'll blame you for making me come."

"Deal," Clarke replies, taking Lexa's hand and leading her into the house. It's much more crowded inside, but Clarke takes her into the kitchen, where there's only Octavia and Lincoln and the boys that always bring the booze, or so Lexa's heard. As Clarke greets them all Lexa feels a bit self-conscious. It had always been her choice not to go to parties or anything, and she didn't regret that. She probably wouldn't care otherwise, either, but Clarke seems so comfortable here and Lexa doesn't want her to notice how out of place she is.

"Surprised to see you here," Lincoln says to her, and she moves out of the doorway to stand by him. Clarke's already in a conversation with Octavia and the boys are in the corner, talking about trying to find a way to get themselves in on Raven's work in the backyard.

"I don't know why," she tells him, and it's a blatant lie that Lincoln smirks at.

"If it wasn't me, who made you come this time?"

"Both times I chose to come. If I didn't I wouldn't be here." Lincoln holds his hands up in mock surrender.

"Alright, who convinced you to come this time, then?"

Lexa shrugs. "I was talking to Clarke and she made it sound like it could be kind of fun." Lincoln raises his eyebrows.

"Since when do you talk to Clarke?"

"We were in rehearsals together for two months before the play in October," Lexa answers, pretending she doesn't know what Lincoln's getting at. Because she does, and her relationship with Clarke isn't at the point that Lincoln probably thinks it is, but he's Anya's nephew and they've known each other since Lexa was ten and he can read her like a book.

He just stares at her for a long moment before saying, "Don't get hurt," and honestly it's ridiculous, he treats Lexa like she's helpless and it's infuriating but he moves back over to Octavia before she can say anything about it.

Lexa moves over to them, too, but she's saved from having to try to make conversation because Raven runs into the room, breathless.

"It's time," she says before running out again, presumably to make sure that nobody kills themselves out back while she's gone.

Octavia jumps off of the counter that she'd been sitting on and grabs Lincoln's hand before she runs after Raven. Clarke laughs at them before looking over to Lexa. She hesitates for a second before she reaches for Lexa's hand. Lexa accepts it with a small smile, weaving her fingers through Clarke's. Clarke's hands are smaller than hers, but Lexa's fingers are skinnier. She likes the way that the weight of Clarke's hand feels in her own.

Lexa follows Clarke back out into the backyard, where more than a few people notice that their hands are linked together. They don't attract much attention, though, because Raven's lighting the fuse on her first firework.

It explodes into glinting red sparks in the sky, and the yard erupts into cheers. Lexa still doesn't understand how the cops are never called. She sees Octavia high five Raven before Clarke's blocking her vision. Clarke's laughing like everybody else, but there's a question in her eyes as she leans forward. Lexa meets her in the middle, and they're just about to deepen the kiss when the second firework explodes and makes Clarke jump. Lexa laughs as Clarke steps away, with apologies on her lips and her hand on her nose. She starts laughing too, though, after she sees Lexa. They join hands again and watch the rest of the fireworks in silence.

They don't last long. Raven had only had enough supplies for five or six of them. The crowd on the lawn scatters after a few minutes, and Raven finds her way to Clarke and Lexa. She looks at their hands pointedly before meeting Clarke's eyes, eyebrows raised. Clarke only laughs at her, before telling her, "Later."

Lexa doesn't mind being left out of that conversation. It's enough to be here with Clarke.

At the end of the night, nothing's really changed. They haven't had any deep conversations, or even really defined what they are. Still, Lexa feels more comfortable in their relationship. It had been obvious to everyone there that they had been together, and when Clarke kisses her cheek after walking Lexa to her car Lexa decides that the night had definitely been worth it.

She leaves with plans for a date the next day and feeling much lighter than she has in ages.


End file.
